Man With Fake Pilot Gear Convicted

Published 2:10 pm, Monday, April 25, 2016

An Egyptian man who flew to Kennedy International Airport in September with a fake pilot's uniform and license was convicted Thursday of lying to investigators about his plans to attend aviation school.

But jurors acquitted Wael Abdel Rahman Kishk, 21, on a second charge of trying to impersonate a pilot by carrying a forged document.

Kishk, 21, faces up to five years in prison on a federal charge of making false statements, though sentencing guidelines suggest a maximum term of only six months. He also faces deportation. Sentencing was set for Feb. 18.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Dwight Holton said the verdict "sends a message that if you lie to federal agents in the middle of an investigation, you'll be prosecuted and convicted."

Defense attorney Michael Schneider again insisted his client was nothing more than a young man who wanted to be a pilot.

"I can understand the government was suspicious," he said. "But not every Egyptian or Arab who wants to be a pilot is a terrorist."

The government has conceded it has no evidence Kishk, who had a valid U.S. visa, was party to the terrorist plot. But prosecutors argued the fact that he appeared to fit the profile of the men who turned jetliners into weapons of mass destruction made his crimes more serious.

Kishk was detained at Kennedy Airport in New York on Sept. 19 after arriving on a flight from Barcelona, Spain, that had originated in Cairo. During a routine search of his luggage, immigration agents discovered a fake Federal Aviation Administration document purportedly giving him medical clearance to fly.

Prosecutors alleged Kishk wanted to use the fake document to pass himself off as a pilot. They also accused him of lying about why he was in the country: to attend aviation classes at Big Bend Community College in Moses Lake, Wash.

The FBI, fearing a second wave of terrorist attacks, asked Kishk repeatedly, '"Do you intend to take flight lessons?'" Holton said in closing statements.

"Over and over again, he denied it," insisting he was bound for business school, the prosecutor added.

Schneider, responding to evidence Kishk had contacted the Washington college about taking aviation courses, suggested his client changed his mind after Sept. 11. He admitted his client used "poor judgment."

"But you don't convict people of crimes because they don't do the smartest things," the defense attorney said.

The FAA document was a crude forgery, full of misspellings, which Kishk crafted himself to try to convince a girlfriend he had achieved his dream of being a pilot, Schneider said.

"If he intended to pass it off as genuine, wouldn't he have proofread it?" he said.